Thursday, January 21, 2010

Veggie Tales...

And no, I'm not talking about the famous Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato (even though I always did like the little asparagus guy)I'm talking about real life vegetables. I have been doing really well these last two weeks as far as sticking to a menu and not snacking irresponsibly. I was feeling really great about the way I've been eating lately and then my damn sister-in-law sent me a picture text last night. She showed me her plate from dinner and I suddenly realized that I'm still not where I need to be.

A little background. Tasha and Cody have both put on quite a bit of weight since they've met, she's had 3 kids and while he works construction in the summer he's pretty much sedentary in the winter and eats like he does in the summer. They recently joined a health program through the hospital in Charles City that is helping them make diet and lifestyle changes in order to lose weight. Last night they had this dinner that looked so good and was so colorful and included lots and lots of different veggies. It was looking at their plates that I realized that I suck when it comes to vegetables.

While I like most veggies in some form or another I tend to be a salad kind of girl. The problem is that in my salads, I'd rather have shredded iceberg lettuce than any other type of greens. Lets face it, instead of eating iceberg lettuce I might as well just drink a glass of water with croutons and light dressing in it because there is nothing nutritionally relevant in iceberg lettuce. I need to start thinking outside of the salad bowl when I approach my veggie plans for the week. There are so many different types of vegetables of all colors, shapes, sizes and flavors and I need to start incorporating more of them into my daily diet.

Now don't get me wrong. I know that I've made some real progress in the last two weeks in regard to hunger awareness and self-discipline. I also know that I'm not going to make all of the changes that I need to in a few weeks time. However, I think this is one of the changes that I need to make sooner rather than later. Having said that, I have created my goal for the upcoming week. I intend to add more variety to the vegetables that I am eating on a daily basis and to increase my veggie servings consumed each day. I already have my groceries for the rest of this week so I will implement this new goal when I go shopping this weekend.

Well, I don't think I have anything else right now. I hope you ladies are having a great week and experiencing success in your Live Healthy plans! Good luck with the weigh-in tomorrow!

3 comments:

project.100.gone said...

I always thinks it's bizarre (in a disappointing way) when I reflect on vegetables. I do truly love them. I love eating at other people's homes or at restaurants when they provide a variety of veggies. I don't transfer that love to my own cooking though. I also eat lettuce but typically go for romaine hearts. We also have broccoli about once a week but guess what goes with it? Melted slices of that awful processed cheese. Last summer I went through a phase where I bought fresh stir fry veggies and prepared them with some teriyaki sauce. Maybe I should look into that again because it was so good.

Good topic Nicole.

LeAnn said...

I'm a veggie lover too! I would eat a variety of veggies, BUT the grocery stores suck in the winter. The vegetable selection is slim, and the vegetables they do have are gross or super expensive.
I am a big fan of the Steamers (vegetables in a microwavable bag). I guess I am not sure how healthy they are though. I've been craving zucchini lately, but that is definitely not a winter vegetable. Cooking carrots is also yummy. Anyway, Jenny's ideas for stir-fry veggies is also good. Good luck.

Nicole said...

I think the steamers are really good for you as they're just flashfrozen veggies. Even the ones in a light sauce tend to be low in points if you do WW. I too love zucchini and miss it in the off season :(